AP fired journalist over criticisms of ‘Israel’
The Associated Press has fired a Jewish journalist and 2020 graduate of Stanford University, over criticisms of ‘Israel’.
On May 3, Emily Wilder started a new job as an Associated Press news associate based in Maricopa County, Arizona.
However, after conservatives resurfaced old social media posts that drew attention from Republicans as prominent as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Wilder was fired by the AP.
“There’s no question I was just canceled,” Wilder told SFGATE by phone on Thursday afternoon.
“This is exactly the issue with the rhetoric around ‘cancel culture.'”
She continued, “To Republicans, cancel culture is usually seen as teens or young people online advocating that people be held accountable over accusations of racism or whatever it may be, but when it comes down to who actually has to deal with the lifelong ramifications of the selective enforcement of cancel culture — specifically over the issue of Israel and Palestine — it’s always the same side.”
The Stanford College Republicans wrote a Twitter thread on Monday highlighting Wilder’s pro-Palestine activism in college as well as some of her old Facebook posts, which started to gain steam on Twitter.
Wilder referred to the late Sheldon Adelson, a Jewish billionaire, Republican mega-donor and staunch defender of Israel, as a “naked mole rat” in one of her posts.
Wilder, however, said that an Associated Press editor called her and said she would not get in trouble for her past activism and social media activity.
“The editor said I was not going to get in any trouble because everyone had opinions in college,” Wilder said. “Then came the rest of the week.”
Cotton tweeted also on Wilder working on the AP, saying “Not a surprise from a media organization that shared office space with Hamas.”
Not a surprise from a media organization that shared office space with Hamas. https://t.co/Gqq6q7aumB
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) May 19, 2021
Wilder told the SFGATE she received an “onslaught of absolutely vile messages” as the story picked up steam.
On Thursday, the AP decided to fire her, saying she violated “their social media policy.”
“They told me that I violated their social media policy and would be terminated immediately, but they never said which tweet or post violated the policy,” she said. “I asked them, ‘Please tell me what violated the policy,’ and they said, ‘No.'”
My statement on my termination from The Associated Press. pic.twitter.com/kf4NCkDJXx
— emily wilder (@vv1lder) May 22, 2021
An Associated Press spokesperson confirmed to SFGATE that Wilder “was dismissed for violations of AP’s social media policy during her time at AP,” but did not address any other issue Wilder raised, stating that the AP generally does not comment on personnel matters.
Wilder said that because her editor originally noted that “everyone had opinions in college,” she sees her firing as selective enforcement against those who have expressed criticisms of ‘Israel’.
